A memorial sits on 21st Street and Edgmont Avenue in Chester on Monday night, a day after 14-year-old Anthony Rainey was fatally shot. (Times staff / JULIA WILKINSON)

CHESTER — A 14-year-old boy is dead, gunned down in a heavily populated area near Edgmont Avenue Sunday night.

“It’s early. It’s 8 o’clock at night. People are out, they are at the store, but nobody sees or hears anything,” said Police Commissioner Joseph Bail on Monday morning, a sense of frustration evident in his voice.

The dead child, identified by the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s office as Anthony Amos Rainey, died Sunday night at Crozer-Chester Medical Center. The cause of death was determined to be a single gunshot wound of the base of the neck/trunk.

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He was shot at about 8 p.m. in the first block of West 21st Street, a short distance from a major crossroads, as well as near several stores.

Paramedics rushed the young victim to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, but his injuries proved fatal. He was pronounced dead not long after he arrived at the emergency room.

According to Bail, investigators who responded to the shooting scene were stonewalled by people in the area.

Detectives and the city and county crime scene units responded, but got little information from witnesses. Investigators went door-to-door canvassing the area around the shooting.

There have been several nonfatal shootings in the same area recently, many committed by younger offenders with easy access to guns.

“A younger set has started up,” Bail said, adding that investigators don’t have many contacts with the young teenagers.

Police will be increasing their patrols along the Edgmont Avenue and Madison Street corridors in response to the increased violence in the area. K-9 units, as well as marked patrol cars, will be patrolling the area.

Bail also reached out to parents to speak up if their child is involved in criminal activity.

“It’s difficult, but there are not a lot of options,” he said. “We don’t want them on corners. We don’t want them to have a toe tag either.”

Bail said residents need to understand that police are not picking on children and teenagers when they order them to stop loitering on street corners. It is a matter of safety, he said.

The police commissioner understands how residents may be apprehensive about providing information to investigators. But there is always the option of doing so anonymously, he said.

If, for example, you see someone walking down the street with a gun tucked into their waistband, call 911. Give the dispatcher a description of the person. You don’t have to give your name, and Chester police do not have access to the caller’s information, Bail said.

“That’s all we need,” Bail said. “If we can get that gun, they’re not to going to be shooting anybody.”

Police are asking anyone who has any information about the shooting of the 14-year-old boy, not matter how insignificant it seems, to call city detectives at 610-447-7908 or county detectives at 610-891-4700.

There have been seven homicides in Delaware County to date this year and all but two were committed in Chester.